The Gift

Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson wrote the screenplay before Sling Blade made Thornton’s name, and Thornton took his starting point from the psychic experiences his own mother described. Sam Raimi shot it around the towns of the Savannah area in February and March 2000. The real engine is not a psychic solving a murder. Annie’s vision sends the sheriff to a pond, the body turns up on a local man’s land, and Donnie is convicted of the killing. When later visions say he is innocent, Annie has to try to undo the consequence of her own reading. The British board’s content note lists, among other things, strangulations, blows struck with improvised weapons and the bloody aftermath, a person set on fire, a husband manhandling his wife in front of a child, and a scene in which a man confronts his father over the abuse he suffered as a boy. On the awards side the 27th Saturn Awards brought five nominations: horror film, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress and writing. Giovanni Ribisi was nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards. A good fit if you want the weight of a wrong conviction carried rather than a supernatural thriller. Not for viewers who avoid domestic violence and child abuse spoken about directly rather than implied.